Wednesday, November 09, 2016

5 Things I Want To Say After The Election




After the surprising results of this most recent election I felt the need to say a few things in response:

*First, I did not put any hope in Presidents before the election, and I certainly place no hope in them now that this election is over. Jesus is still my Lord and my guide.

*Second, this election serves mainly as a mirror held up to the face of the Evangelical Christian church in America. Now we know what evils may be excused in the pursuit of political favor - lust, greed, pride, racism, sexism, and everything in between can apparently be overlooked as long as you promise Christians the power they crave most. We have a lot of work to do to make the Christian church more like Jesus.

*Third, many are confused by the fact so many Evangelical Christians vocally and enthusiastically supported a man who admitted he had never asked God for forgiveness, bragged about sexually assaulting women, attacked the parents of an American soldier who died in combat, insulted an American war hero because he was captured, called for banning Muslims from entering the country, mocked a disabled man, bragged about not paying any taxes for years, scammed people with a fake university, owns gambling casinos, and created a non-profit foundation that was shut down and is now under investigation for fraud.

*Fourth, our goal now should be to show those confused people that while we love everyone as Jesus does, we do not applaud these sorts of behaviors. We should work to make it clear that we are following a leader who honors women, embraces people of every religious background, and who is not proud but humble, self-sacrificing and kind. Apologize if necessary. Let the contrasts be evident and clear. There is no one like Jesus. We hope in Him alone.

*Finally, let us continue to demonstrate the beautiful Gospel of Jesus without becoming entangled by the slime of politics. Our focus is on Jesus. Our mission to love others as He loved us. There is no room in our hearts for tribal thinking. We are not primarily Americans, or even Baptists or Methodists, or Republicans or Democrats or Libertarians. Our identity is fully and completely found in Christ and in Him alone. In Christ there is now therefore no nationalism, no sexism, no man-made division, but we are all one in Christ Jesus.

Above all, Jesus is Lord. We have to move beyond that bumper sticker slogan and begin to actually live out of that profound reality in our daily lives.

We are not looking for a nation of our own. We are citizens of another country that is from above and not built by human hands; a country whose founder and builder is God Himself.

Let's continue to be ambassadors of our King to a people who have, mostly, never seen Him or heard His message, yet oh so desperately need it now more than ever before.

-kg

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

"*Finally, let us continue to demonstrate the beautiful Gospel of Jesus without becoming entangled by the slime of politics."

Are you kidding me? Goback and read your post. That's exactly what you just did! seems pretty hypocritical to me.

Jose L Bosque said...

Excellent Heith!

Anonymous said...

Well said, Keith.

Anonymous said...

You seem to only have harsh words for Trump and give Hillary a pass. This election was more about keeping her out than support for Trump. If you want to demonstrate the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus you must see the slime on both sides and pray for the new president that he would get saved,

dennisavery said...

Keith, we need more people like you who recognize that our primary allegiance is to our Kingdom citizenship. Hebrews 11 tells us that the witnesses in the Hebrew Scriptures looked for a City not made by hands whose builder and maker is God. The term ekklesia as used in Greece and Rome referred to a decision making body and is translated many times in the NT as "city council." Romans 12:1-3, I Cor. 6, I Cor. 14 and Eph 3:7-10 and other verses makes it clear that, as a corporate body, we are to seek God's will in everything we do. Paul tells us at the end of I Cor. 2 that we are to "have the mind of Christ". Your collective posts earlier this year with Neil Cole, Jon Zens, Richard Jacobs, etc was refreshing. If only our mainline churches focused more on corporate discernment the Family of God would make a greater impact on the surrounding culture.